Laying down in a hospital bed, Yumeno was peacefully asleep. Although she would twitch and turn every now and then, the doctor who was a reverse cursed technique specialist, assured she would be fine before the next half of the games.
Hikaru was watching over her while sitting on a stool. He clearly seemed quite depressed at what happened, and even more so since it was partly his fault that the team was in this position. Taori on the other hand, was busy looking out the window. Although she carried her usual face of indifference, she was also hiding her rage.
Akumu however, uncontrollably smashed his fist into the wall. Although that punch had no cursed energy, it was still enough to crack it.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL! THAT PIECE OF GARBAGE WILL PAY FOR THIS! I'LL GO OVER TO THEIR ROOMS RIGHT NOW!"
Before he could even walk off, Kenji quickly grabbed onto him, before restraining him tightly.
"Let go of me Kenji."
"If I do, you won't do something rash will you?"
Oh how the tables had turned. It was Akumu who was running off to go fight someone, and Kenji was stopping him now instead.
"No. This is different. They took it too far."
"..."
Kenji then let go of Akumu's hand. Before he left though, Kenji said,
"Would Misoto want to see you like this?"
Just hearing that name seemed to snap him back in place. He was right, Misoto wouldn't want to see him like this, he wouldn't want him to take revenge like this. If he went to go fight them, things would only get worse.
He breathed in heavily as he tried to control his anger. It was still there, albeit just hidden. Sorcerers need to control their emotions in order to wield cursed energy, but intense emotions could amplify them just as much.
This anger he contained, it shall be used as a weapon.
While he was tempering himself, he could hear the sounds of an argument from just behind the door. It didn't belong to anyone on his team, or even any team in the colosseum for that matter. Yet he recognized it anyway,
Arthur bursted into the room, while Hagone was struggling to hold him back. The second his eyes locked onto Akumu, he could feel a punch was incoming. But he didn't try to move.
Of course, Arthur threw a punch right into his jaw, pushing Akumu back. Before he could do anymore, Kenji quickly blocked him.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO YOU BASTARD! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER WHEN I COULDN'T, SO WHY THE HELL IS SHE IN THAT BED!? WHY THE HELL DID YOU WATCH AS SHE WAS EMBARRASSED LIKE THAT! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY RIVAL! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY EQUAL! SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?"
Yukiko who arrived just at that moment, quickly rushed to defend him,
"If he could have done something about that, don't you think he would've?"
But before Arthur could shout anymore, Akumu slowly stood back up. He limped towards Arthur only to walk past him as he said,
"I'm sorry."
**
Qiang was laughing while surrounded by two of the girls on the same team. They were all laughing as they enjoyed some of the exquisite drinks that were brought to them.
"That was too hilarious! I was struggling not to burst out laughing! The look on her pathetic face once she noticed her spiritual arts had no effect on me, it was simply funny!"
Luo Xiang then continued,
"Was she really a Gojo clan member? If that's how they all are, then even captain Haoran could beat Owari Gojo."
The three looked towards their team captain, Li Haoran. He remained quiet for a moment, before speaking,
"Stupid behavior like that will only bite you in the ass one day Xi Qiang, Discipline yourself. Because of your arrogance, you came second in the last match."
Qiang just groaned as he then gulped down his entire drink in one go. He then stood up as stretched his back, before disappearing and throwing a punch at Haoran with incredible speed. Haoran without blinking an eye, caught the punch with relative ease.
"The Japanese team is just a bunch of a losers, cap-tain! Why so serious? We're going to win anyway."
Then, he felt Haoran's grip grow stronger as he felt his fist being slowly crushed.
That's when a much older man began to walk towards the two. He wore a strange dark cloak, and got around with a black and gold walking stick. The second he appeared, Haoran let go of Qiang while also bowing respectfully.
"Elder.."
He just nodded, before turning to Qiang who was trying his best to look away.
"QIANG! You costed us first place in that match! You think your loss will go unpunished?"
Qiang's head to looked down to the floor in shame. He mumbled 'I'm sorry' under his breathe, which was too quiet for anyone to even hear.
"And then there is you lord Haoran. Please understand that with your position as the next emperor of China, you cannot be allowed to lose to any of that filth. Don't make the same mistake that Qiang did, and start toying with your opponents. Regardless of their bloodline. We are here to win, and only win."
Haoran responded,
"Yes, Elder Guang."
Everyone in the room suddenly flinched, as they all faced the door. It's hinges were then ripped off, before being thrown across the room causing it to crash into a wall.
All of the Chinese team members got ready for a fight, but Guang interrupted them.
"How can I help you, Japan's teams manager."
Omo Yasei was pissied. Right now, his entire being was enveloped in seething anger, that made him look like a terrifying beast prepared to devour everyone in the room. Without even activating his Cursed Technique, he was exhibiting rather inhuman traits.
Guang spoke first. If Qiang was allowed to taunt him, then things would get ugly really quickly.
"Understand that if you attack us now, your team will be disqualified from the tournament. Even if you were to come at us anyway do you really believe that you could take all 6 of us out?"
Hearing that, a hint of rationality returned back to Omo. As he calmed down though, he maintained that faint sense of ferocity and wrath.
"I just came to deliver you guys a warning. If I see you harm my student's like that ever again, I'll tear you all apart. You can run back to your country, and I will follow you all anyway. There is no wall, no fortress, and certainly no god that will keep me away from any of you. So you watch out from now on."
Retreating back into the darkness, Omo quietly left. And not long after, Qiang and the two girls quickly began to laugh.
"He really thought he could take all 6 of us at once!"
One of their more silent members, a green haired boy who was dressed in a black ninja gi, then fell to one knee while trembling. Haoran quickly helped him back up.
"Liu Zheng are you okay??"
He was too frightened to even utter a word. Amongst all of them, he was the weakest, so he was more sensitive to Omo's ferocious declaration. Their Teacher, Guang then said,
"It's a good thing that we didn't fight that man. Some of us would've had to die before we could kill him. Back home, he probably would be a half step to reaching the peak of heaven."
**
"ARE WE READY TO RUMBLE!????"
The whole arena screamed in excitement.
"THEN LETS BEGIN THE 3rd ROUND!!!"
Like the round before, a giant holographic display surrounded the whole arena. It revealed the presence of a giant medieval castle that appeared to be upside down. In confusion, everyone wondered what the next games theme would be.
Leonie would quickly answer that question,
"The theme for this round, is a castle siege!"
And for the first time since the games had started, Tyreece spoke,
"Today's game is called Dungeon Hunt. It's a game where you hunt a certain number of cursed spirits in the reverse castle to earn points. Each participant will be allowed to select a number between 1 and 100. Once they do, a corresponding amount of Cursed spirits will spawn in that castle, however their grades will vary. There are 50 grade 3, 33 grade 2, 16 grade 1, and 1 special grade cursed spirits in total. Each cursed spirit will give a 1, 3, 6 or 10 points respectively, and the number of them that appears is randomly selected to fit the number the participant chooses. If you fail to defeat all the curses you choose, the hunt will end and you will earn zero points. As a little side quest, if you manage to kill every single cursed spirit in the tower, you will be given a reward!"
The screen then changed, as it turned into an advertisement for a strange game. leonie then spoke,
"This round is sponsored by 'The Lost Dream'. A VRMMORPG where you can-"
Before she could even finish with the advertisement, Sergeant Frost quickly cut her off.
"LIKE THE ROUNDS BEFORE, PLAYERS WILL BE RANDOMLY PICKED BASED ON WHO HAS YET TO PLAY!"
"FROM THE AMERICAN CORNER WE HAVE, WALLACE THE BEAR???"
The Crowd was confused just at the sight of it. How did the brown bear manage to enter a school? Nevertheless, join a tournament.
"FROM THE KOREAN TEAM WE HAVE THEIR LEADER, SUNG GON-ILL!"
This was one of the people Akumu had noted was stronger than him. Although he wasn't as flashy as his teammates before him, he exuded a faint Aura which enthralled everyone in the arena. Even if you couldn't sense cursed energy, just one look was enough to know how dangerous he was.
"FROM THE JAPANESE CORNER IS ANOTHER HEAD CAPTAIN, AKUMU SAIGO."
No one cheered or booed for that team. Not only had they lost to two rounds in a row, but one of their teammates had been brutalized in the prior match. They were bound to lose. However, Akumu had experienced this before. The feeling of countless eyes glaring at him with negativity. And so he knew how to deal with them the best.
Shock them. Scare them. Show them overwhelming power.
"AND FINALLY FROM THE CHINESE TEAM IS HAN MEIYING"
The men in the crowd's heads almost exploded from the size of her chest while the women could only look at them with frustration. A small fight even broke out just because of her.
Unlike the previous rounds, there was no timer. A robotic voice would ask each of the members how many cursed spirits they would like to fight and in turn, that same number would spawn inside the dungeon.